Management theories are used as a means of working to conceptualize the best practices for managing employees within a company, group setting, or organization. The evolution of these theories is the process by which they grow and change, adapting based on new theories or possible projections in a given field (Cole, p. 23). It must be argued, however, that in spite of some of the benefits offered by the application of management theories to an organization or company, the study of the evolution of these management theories has no practical value to managers.

To put it succinctly, managers know what works for their specific set of employees and what does not; managers have more important tasks to focus on than working to keep up to date on the different manners in which these theories evolve, and if the manager does have the time to devote to that, it is clear that the manager is already doing something wrong, that there is some form of dereliction in duty. It has been said that “bad management theories are destroying good management practices” (Ghoshal, p. 75), primarily due to the recent scandals seen within the U.S. borders in recent years.

People are so concerned that this not happen underneath them that they are willing to jump on any new theory that presents itself, but they fail to realize that the practices that they were using were working, and by changing something that was not broken, they have effectively worked to accomplish what they were trying to avoid; they have broken their system. Managers are best served managing their employees instead of paying attention to the evolution of management theory, as the evolution of management theory is not something that serves those who are already working in the management field.